When to tune into Paris-Roubaix and Paris-Roubaix Femmes to catch the most exciting and important cobble sectors

For the first time in the race’s short history, Paris-Roubaix Femmes will take place on the same day as the men’s Paris-Roubaix.

Until Friday, we thought this would mean concurrent streams of the races, with fans forced to choose between watching Mathieu van der Poel and Tadej Pogačar’s big duel or tuning in to see Lotte Kopecky face down the likes of Pauline Ferrand-Prévot.

However, it now appears that the race broadcasts actually will not overlap, with the women’s race footage set to start only after the men’s race finishes, showing around 50-60km and likely not all of the cobbled sectors.

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But even if we won’t be able to watch it all on TV, dedicated fans will still want to keep up with both races – maybe via the Cyclingnews live blogs – so when do you need to pay attention to each race to catch the key moments?

Cyclingnews is here to help: in addition to our How to watch Paris-Roubaix guide, we have a full timeline below showing when the men and women are expected to reach each sector.

The time is based on the ASO’s official time schedule, with average speed determining the moment each race should arrive at each point – so they’re estimations, but the times should be thereabouts, depending on how fast the pelotons go.

Even if the women’s stream is not as long as expected, Paris-Roubaix broadcasts will be on from brunch until dinner in Europe, so plan to be glued to your television, computer or phone for a good ten hours or more!

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The women are expected to race at between 38kph and 42kph over 143.1 kilometres, while the men have been setting speed records in recent years and are expected to complete their 258.3-kilometre race at speeds of between 43kph and 47kph.

The men will be up early to carb-load, as their race begins at 10:50 CEST, while the women get to stay in bed much longer as they don’t start until 14:35 CEST. The television coverage for the men’s race begins before the 10:30 CEST start time and beyond the estimated 17:00 CEST finish time.

The current schedules for the European broadcasts on Max and US broadcaster Peacock and Canadian host FloBikes have the women’s broadcast beginning after the men’s finish, around the same time they’ll be coming into the Mons-en-Pévèle sector with 48.6km to go. That means fans might miss the women racing across the newly added cobble roads, including the four-start Haveluy to Wallers sector.

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When will the men reach the Arenberg forest, you ask? Right as the women start, or thereabouts. They’ll have raced 163 kilometres by that point and have 95.3 km to go. If they’re at the top end of the expected pace, they will come through around 14:33 CET, while if they’re taking their time, it could be as long as 20 minutes later.

The first cobble sector for the women, Solesmes to Haussy, comes with 113.8 km to go, and time-wise, they should be reaching it just before the men reach Mons-en Pévèle with 48.6 km to go.

Once the men pass through the Carrefour de l’Arbre for the final, often decisive five-star sector, the women will be entering into the most cobble-intensive section of their race, so if Van der Poel or Pogačar are solo with minutes on the chase, the women’s feed might be more exciting.

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Paris-Roubaix men and women timeline

Note, all times are in CEST.